WEBVTT - Bloomberg's Naughton on Ford's Plan for Autonomous Car (Audio)

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<v Speaker 1>Let's bring in Keith not Now. He's Auto editor at

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<v Speaker 1>Large for Bloomberg News, joining us from our Motor City

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<v Speaker 1>Detroit bureau in Southfield, Michigan. So, Keith, what do you

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<v Speaker 1>take away from what Mark Fields just told our own

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<v Speaker 1>Emily Chang? Yeah, I think you know, what Mark is

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<v Speaker 1>trying to do is sort of carve a distinct path

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<v Speaker 1>for Ford. It's been a little unclear, you know, Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>you know what their strategy was, and so they're taking

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit of everyone else's strategy. They're they're going

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<v Speaker 1>to go you know, completely autonomous, no steering wheel, much

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<v Speaker 1>like the Google has said they will do with their

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<v Speaker 1>their car. They want to do it though within the

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<v Speaker 1>confines of ride hailing and ride sharing, which is very

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<v Speaker 1>similar to what GM is looking at with with Lift,

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<v Speaker 1>which had invested in UH. And they want to do

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<v Speaker 1>it by one, which is the same time frame that

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<v Speaker 1>BMW has announcer it's driver less car. So they've they've

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<v Speaker 1>taken a little bit of each and UH come up

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<v Speaker 1>with their own plan. UM. You know, it's ambitious because

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<v Speaker 1>they don't have the big partners that GM has or

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<v Speaker 1>even BMW. They've aligned with Mobile I and Intel, UM

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<v Speaker 1>and and they ford tried to align with Google and

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<v Speaker 1>ended up not doing a deal with them, and instead

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<v Speaker 1>Google is partnering with Chrysler. Hey, Keith, can you tell

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<v Speaker 1>us about a company called the Velodine ldar and maybe

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<v Speaker 1>just give us some details about what is it? A

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<v Speaker 1>bus or a mini bus that I believe was showcased

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<v Speaker 1>in India recently using Velodine ldar technology and it's completely autonomous, right.

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<v Speaker 1>You know? The UM the thing that that Valodine does

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<v Speaker 1>for just about everybody UM is is the light our radar,

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<v Speaker 1>which you know. The way that that works is that

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<v Speaker 1>it kind of bounces light off objects lidar. I'm just

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<v Speaker 1>gonna give you the that's the acronym l I D

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<v Speaker 1>a R light detection and ranging sensors exactly, and so

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<v Speaker 1>UM it gives the vehicle the ability to sense its

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<v Speaker 1>environment in a three sixty degree way UM in conjunction

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<v Speaker 1>with cameras and traditional radar, so it creates a vision

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<v Speaker 1>for the car UM and and then it can drive itself.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a very expensive component. They're trying to bring the

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<v Speaker 1>cost of it down by getting more and more customers

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<v Speaker 1>because Veladine won't just supply forward even though they have

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<v Speaker 1>struck this deal or by do they're going to continue

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<v Speaker 1>to supply all the world's automakers, um because they do

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<v Speaker 1>sort of have the state of the art light ar

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<v Speaker 1>at the moment. So you know, um Keith, even though

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<v Speaker 1>Mark Fields kind of seem to want to push back,

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<v Speaker 1>like you know, the technology companies they're not just going

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<v Speaker 1>to rush in. Are sure they're rushing in, but the

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<v Speaker 1>car companies forward is here the fact that they're doubling

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<v Speaker 1>their workforce in Palo Alto with the research center. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>they're increasing the size this facility hugely sixfold actually according

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<v Speaker 1>to your story, to over three buildings. It does seem

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<v Speaker 1>to indicate that Mark Fields realizes that having a presence

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<v Speaker 1>in you know, in the in the heart that the

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<v Speaker 1>biggest technology center in the country, if not the world,

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<v Speaker 1>is important Afard Now, Yeah, and you know, as I

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<v Speaker 1>was working on this story today, I got a call

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<v Speaker 1>from General Motors to remind me that they have a

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<v Speaker 1>Silicon Valley lab to so you know, all that detroyed

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<v Speaker 1>automakers actoually just say all the automakers in general want

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<v Speaker 1>to have a presence in Silicon Valley, which I think

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<v Speaker 1>demonstrates the importance of that hotbed of innovation. They're trying

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<v Speaker 1>to become a part of it. Um, they are still

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<v Speaker 1>a small part of it when you look at you know,

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<v Speaker 1>what Google and Apple are doing in in that space,

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<v Speaker 1>and and from Wall Streets perspective, you know, whatever Ford

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<v Speaker 1>is doing or GM is doing isn't enough because their

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<v Speaker 1>stock is down despite record profits, and a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>that is anxiety over whether or not the traditional automakers,

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<v Speaker 1>the legacy automakers, can embrace this this changing reality of

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<v Speaker 1>more ability. Keith, before we all jump on the autonomous

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<v Speaker 1>car bandwagon, wondering if you could tell us a little

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<v Speaker 1>bit more about David Hall. He's the head of Velodne Lidar,

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<v Speaker 1>He's the founder, and also maybe just give us a

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<v Speaker 1>little idea of how this technology, like automated technology can

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<v Speaker 1>be used not just in the automobile industry, but in

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<v Speaker 1>factory automation as well. Yeah, I mean it's a it's

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<v Speaker 1>a really fascinating technology that is you know, very advanced,

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<v Speaker 1>very expensive, and it does give you this this um,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, vision of all elements of things that are

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<v Speaker 1>around you, behind you, um. And then it enables robots

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<v Speaker 1>to move about in a way that they don't. They

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<v Speaker 1>don't bump into things. They can avoid things. In the

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<v Speaker 1>case of an autonomous car, it's avoiding people and vehicles

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<v Speaker 1>and buildings and uh and it's it's really um it's

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<v Speaker 1>like the central nervous system of an autonomous car and uh.

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<v Speaker 1>And you know it is essential to developing these things

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<v Speaker 1>with with the appropriate safety. How big of an issue

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<v Speaker 1>has it been? Was it when we learned after the

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<v Speaker 1>fact that there had been a crash involving a Tesla

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<v Speaker 1>right where the car couldn't read the fact that there

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<v Speaker 1>was a large truck on the road ahead of it

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<v Speaker 1>because the way the light was bouncing back. It made

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<v Speaker 1>some news. It seems like it's died down. Was that

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<v Speaker 1>a setback? It is just like, oh, well, we're going

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<v Speaker 1>to have a few of those on the path to

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<v Speaker 1>a fully autonomous vehicle, right. I spoke to John Kraftschick,

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<v Speaker 1>Google's CEO of its self driving car program, about this recently,

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<v Speaker 1>and the thing he tries to make very clear is that,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, the autopilot on Tesla is not a fully

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<v Speaker 1>autonomous system. It doesn't have the light hour that we

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<v Speaker 1>were just describing. It has cameras, and those cameras UM,

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<v Speaker 1>which were made by Mobile I did not have the

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<v Speaker 1>ability to see cross traffic. That that's something that's not

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<v Speaker 1>going to arrive in their capabilities for another two years.

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<v Speaker 1>So the system was really being pushed beyond its limits

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<v Speaker 1>UM either by the driver, by the company that's in dispute,

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<v Speaker 1>but UM. But that was taking a driver assist technology

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<v Speaker 1>and trying to use it as if it were a

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<v Speaker 1>fully autonomous technology and the results were tragic. And Keith,

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<v Speaker 1>just to give you a couple of seconds here, this

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<v Speaker 1>technology can also be used with unmanned aerial vehicles, right

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<v Speaker 1>like drones. Sure, I mean that's that's the ability of

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<v Speaker 1>this three D surround vision that you can get when

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<v Speaker 1>you deploy these these three technologies. But you know what

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<v Speaker 1>they what they require also is you know, some high

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<v Speaker 1>speed processors, which is why I see Intel involved in

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<v Speaker 1>this UM to really crunch all the data that comes

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<v Speaker 1>in through these sensors and tell drones or vehicles where

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<v Speaker 1>to go. Thank you very much for spending time with

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<v Speaker 1>us and in lightening us. Keith Norton is Auto editor

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<v Speaker 1>at Large for Bloomberg News, telling us about autonomous driving

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<v Speaker 1>as well as new technology to give that three D

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<v Speaker 1>and sixty degree View shares a FOURD down six tenths

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<v Speaker 1>of a percent of twelve dollars thirty five cents. We

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<v Speaker 1>take you through to the close. Next, this is Bloomberg.